Wanted: Judicial-Free Supreme Court Justice

There are limits to how broadly one can reasonably define conditions for a judicial appointment...

A Republican planning document provided to The Washington Post described the need to avoid disclosing the nominee's "personal political views or legal thinking on any issue."

Barring personal politics is appropriate, but taking the 'legal' out of the judiciary? Nope. Uh-uh. And Republicans are going to burn themselves if planning like this keeps up. The decline of the judicial branch is already under way, and a centrist or libertarian could help reverse the trend, but political tricks like the above will only increase the statist hegemony no matter how worthy the appointee. It should be about the law, period. A short-term "up-or-down vote" or condemnation of "judicial activism" or issue-based nomination means little if the process continues a long-term rot.